You Knew I Would Return
by norearviewmirrors
Summary: AU where Tyler doesn't get taken over, and Elena doesn't become a vampire, but she gets injured in the accident, and needs Stefan to save her, will he be around to do it? Review and Enjoy : Family isn't just identified by love, but by those who will take care of you in ways no one else can


He struggled to get her out of the water, she was trying to help him, trying to push herself up and out, he watched her fighting the water as he swam to her, he watched her bounce in her seat, fighting the seatbelt, but she wasn't being careful enough, and he wasn't quick enough, and in her struggle, she'd hit her head on the top of the truck, and just as he'd gotten to her, he watched her stop fighting, her eyes closed, and she fell back into her seat.

No, this wasn't happening, it couldn't, he wouldn't give up, there was no way. He ripped off the seatbelt, and kicked them up toward the sky, bringing Elena's body to land, and pumping her chest, trying to bring her back. "Please Elena, Please don't leave me, I need you, please" he whispered to her as he pumped.

Elena's POV- I could hear him, I could feel his hands, cold from the water pounding my chest, I wanted so bad to open my eyes, and tell him of course I wouldn't give up, of course I couldn't let that happen, that I would try. But I couldn't, I couldn't find my voice, I couldn't open my eyes to tell him. And then I found it, found my voice, my throat, but it was muffled by water, and there was chaos in my chest, it felt like a whirlpool of acid, and I knew I had to get it out, so I pushed. With every tiny ounce of power left in me, I pushed out the water, making me cough it all up. As soon as I felt the water leave me, I found my eyes, opened them, and saw the reason I pushed, I saw Stefan.

His heart leaped out of his chest, her eyes, her chocolate eyes had returned to him, had given him another second chance at a life with her. Stefan picked Elena up as she relaxed herself, knowing she was safe now, and he brought her home, and opted to stay the night after she asked him to in between her waking up and falling back asleep again and again.

It was 2 am when he heard something coming from the kitchen; it was a small muffled noise, sounding like a struggle, and then a loud sigh. He rushed off the couch and into the kitchen. When he got into the kitchen, he saw her, a glass filled with water on the counter beside her, and his beautiful warrior princess holding onto the counter as if it was the only thing keeping her standing. Stefan didn't ask a question, but was instantly at her side, holding her up, being her crutch. "What happened?" he asked, his voice deep with concern.

"I just wanted water, but I didn't want to bother you, I'm fine, I'm okay." But she sounded as though she was trying to convince herself more than him, her voice was shaky and frail, and tiny stray tears turned into sobs. Stefan just held her his arms wrapped around her waist, keeping her steady and secure, and Elena cried into his shoulder. "I'm sorry that I've ruined everything Stefan" she mumbled, Stefan didn't reply, he just brought her to bed, and tucked her, in, she would be asleep in seconds.

Once he got downstairs, he grabbed a piece of paper and pen from a drawer, and began to write. "Elena, I am so sorry that I am weak, Matt is doing fine Bonnie called while you were sleeping. I can't protect you the way I know my brother, and your friends can. I cannot protect you Elena, because my love for you blurs everything else that happens around me, and that isn't romantic, it's tragic.

When you get this, I'll be gone. I know the pain you must be enduring right now, and I'm sorry that I am about to make that so much worse, but I must go, because as we've seen tonight, love is far more dangerous than I ever believed. I'm sorry for all the lies I told you when I was off with Klaus, there was nothing I wanted more than your touch, and your heart, but I couldn't have it any longer, and that drove me mad. Though I lied to you so many times in the past while, though I thought it was to protect you, know that everything I've said in this letter is the complete truth, and I love you with every piece of me that I have left. Know that I am somewhere safe, and I'll be thinking of all of our memories together, all my love, forever and always, Stefan."

When he was done, he put the letter down, and left, going home briefly to pack his bag, then brought it to his car, and drove into the sunset.

3 WEEKS LATER

Elena sat in her room thinking about her Stefan, and where he was now. Caroline and Bonnie were downstairs in the kitchen talking about their options, not wanting Elena to hear their conversation.

"Bonnie, where else can we look, he's the only person that can save her, and what are we going to do?"  
Bonnie's head bowed down a little, sad that their 6th attempt at tracking down Stefan had been yet another failure. "I don't know Caroline, but let me try something quickly" she mumbled. She took the picture of all of them together- Caroline, Elena, Jeremy, Matt, Tyler, Stefan, Damon, and Bonnie, taken at some point of junior year- off the wall it hung on, and put a drop of water on top of the frame, in the sky of the picture. Chanting, with her hands waving above the picture, Caroline watched the drop of water move above Elena's head, and turn from clear to a light pink. When Bonnie stopped, she stared at the droplet of water, and explained herself to Caroline. "the drop of water went to the only person who knows where he is." she explained, and Caroline got frustrated.  
"Bonnie, if Elena knew where he went, she wouldn't be upstairs moping, she would tell us to go after him"  
"Let me finish Care, the water turned pink, which means that she only subconsciously knows, we have to jog her memory."

They both stared at eachother, and after a minute of thinking, they rushed up to Elena's room. She was weak and tired, she could barely lift her head, but the girls told her everything they found out, leaving out that they had been looking for Stefan, covering by saying they needed to make sure he was okay.

"the letter" Elena whispered when they were finished. "pass me it please" Bonnie passed it gently to her friend, and watched as Elena re-read the letter over and over. "Here" she mumbled, sounding excited "he finished with this, 'Know that I am somewhere safe, and I'll be thinking of all of our memories together'. "  
"So?" asked Caroline, but Elena just kept repeating the words safe, and memories, trying to pin them to Stefan.

"HE'S AT THE LAKEHOUSE!" she attempted to shout, her voice was weak and scratchy, but it was close enough, "safe- as in a safe house, which is what it is, because only we have been invited in, and memories, we talked about them constantly while we were there, our memories, past and future, how didn't I see it before now?"

Without a word, Caroline left to find him, and Bonnie covered for her, saying that Caroline couldn't handle losing another friend, and that she probably just needed some air. But this conversation had weakened Elena, and she was already falling asleep.

2 hours later Caroline pulled into the old lake house, reminiscing about the old days that Elena and her had come up here with their moms and Bonnie for a girl's week, but her mom rarely came, blaming work, but really she just wasn't interested. Concentrate, she told herself, you have to convince him to come home with you. No lies, just the absolute truth. She knocked on the door, and within seconds, Stefan had opened the door, "hello Stefan" she mumbled, her eyes avoiding looking at him, as his eyes had big dark circles around them as if he hadn't slept, and his face was thin as if he wasn't eating properly.

"You found me." He whispered.

"One who doesn't want to be found shouldn't leave clues in his goodbye letters." She gave him a smile, and then a hug, knowing he needed both. He hugged her back then pulled away. "you have to come home" she said, this was the hard part, the truth…but there was no alternative, so here we go she thought. "Elena said she hit her head the night of the accident" she started, but Stefan turned his gaze down to the ground, and she could tell he was reliving every part of that night, so she continued, trying to finish "well, it turns out, she has some internal bleeding now, and she won't let me, or anyone feed her their blood to save her, she said she's tired, and if she dies, Klaus won't hurt her lineage, or her family anymore." They both knew that when any of them said family anymore they were referring to their group of friends, because that's all any of them had left really. "We just, Bonnie and I just thought that if you come home, maybe she'd fight, maybe she'd let us heal her." Caroline was so vulnerable, the people around her were all falling apart, and she, as always was asked to be the strong one, but she couldn't hide it well with Stefan, and she found herself shaking, and gently crying.

Stefan was almost in tears, and there was no way he was letting anything happen to Elena or her family, so he gave Caroline a hug, holding her and promising to make it okay. Then Stefan raced around the house at vampire speed, packing up his stuff, and within seconds, he was packed and getting in his car, with Caroline already in hers, and they drove home.

LATER THAT NIGHT

They both walked into Elena's house, Caroline went to the kitchen to see Bonnie, and Stefan went upstairs to Elena's room. He knocked on her door then, and turned the knob, finding her in bed curled up with tears in her eyes. When her eyes caught his, they remained unchanging, "great, hallucinations, and well at least it's of him- that was considerate of my subconscious." Stefan allowed a grin to pass his face briefly, he walked to her bed, and kneeled beside her, "I'm here princess". Suddenly her eyes widened and a weak, sad smile stretched across her face. "You're beautiful, but you're only here because I'm sick" she mumbled, her delicate fingers traced the circles around his eyes, feeling awful.

"I would have come back soon anyways, I tried to be without you all last summer, and it killed me that this time it was myself keeping me away. I'm sorry I left love" Elena smiled again and moved over gently in her bed signalling Stefan to climb in beside her, which he did willingly, wrapping an arm around her, and kissing her hair, "tell me everything" he asked her.

"Well, you know what's wrong with me; Bonnie and Caroline have been really worried. They stay here most of the day until Matt comes over to visit, and then they go home and clean up. Matt feels awful, but he knows he would have done the same thing for me, so he isn't mad, but he tries to help me keep me upbeat, because he doesn't like that Bonnie and Care coddle me all day, I don't mind it, but he knows I get restless. So we go downstairs sometimes, and I teach him to bake cookies, or make tea, or pasta. Then we eat what we make and watch movies. He usually stays till 7, when he has to go to work, and then Tyler comes by, and plays cards with me; he's teaching me to play poker right now. We watch old episodes of friends, and I usually fall asleep, but even if I do, he doesn't leave, he cleans up the mess me and Matt leave, or cleans up around the yard, until Jeremy comes home from work, because he's been working 9am – 9 pm shifts. Anyways, then I wake up, and me and Jeremy talk for a bit, and he takes me to bed, sometimes Tyler has to help, but then I wake up, and Caroline and Bonnie are here, and I think about you until one of them comes to try to unsuccessfully distract me again."

She seemed tired by the end of her story, but her voice lowered as she began to tell Stefan more. "Damon doesn't come anymore, he tried to force me to drink his blood, and I wouldn't let him, so he tried to make me one time, but then I screamed, and Caroline was downstairs and heard me, so she threw him out, and threatened to kill him if he came around again."

"Why not take the blood" Stefan asked

"Because, if I go, then there's nothing keeping evil-Alaric alive, there isn't a reason for Klaus to hurt me, or anyone anymore." She paused "and then there's the real reason…"

But Stefan was quick, and finished her sentence for her, "you knew Caroline would find me, you knew it would bring me back, if I thought you were dying"

She put her head down "I'm sorry Stefan, I know it was stupid and wrong, but I had to, you had to come back to me" now she was crying, and Stefan knew he couldn't be mad at her, she needed him, and he left her, it was his fault. "Okay don't worry I'm not mad okay" he muttered. And then Elena was facing him, and he looked her in the eye and whispered "are you ready to feel better again?"  
"yes" was all she gave him, knowing that he would never leave her again. So Stefan took a gentle bite from his wrist, and motioned it to Elena, who took it solemnly and drank, feeling the healing begin already.

After she finished, Stefan kissed her, and told her to sleep. When she did, he walked downstairs, and found his family in the kitchen, and shared the good news, they were so glad Elena would be okay, that nothing else mattered. Minutes later, Elena came into the kitchen, walking straight up, and looking healthier than ever, and the room was silent with broken tears, and thankful, smiling faces. "thank God, I never have to make peach cider tea ever again" said Matt, trying to offer comic relief, when everyone laughed, Elena made her way around her family, hugging them, and thanking them for what they did for her. When she got to Stefan, she held him, and whispered a soft "I love you" into his ear.

Elena's family had survived..


End file.
